Some Questions About Obama’s Immigration Plan

Late this week at a Rose Garden address President Barack Obama made an announcement that he would allow about 800,000 illegal immigrants to stay in the United States and grant them work visas. He stated that this is the right thing to do so that they can fulfill their dreams of working in the United States:

“Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you’ve done everything right your entire life — studied hard, worked hard, maybe even graduated at the top of your class — only to suddenly face the threat of deportation to a country that you know nothing about, with a language that you may not even speak.”

There are a number of questions that should be asked about this plan to give temporary relief from deportation for these illegal immigrants.

But the question asked by The Daily Caller reporter Neil Munro, who interrupted the president’s speech in an odd breach of typical etiquette), is one which has been largely ignored but is extremely certain when considering the economic climate. His question is below:

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What about the Americans who have to compete now with the additional 800,000 looking for work in the United States? I am a free market advocate who feels that the best person should get the job and would have no problem with these additional workers if we operated in a free market, but we do not; we have government intervention through the minimum wage, regulations, taxes, and other laws, all of which increase the cost of doing business and prevent employers from hiring more employees even when they are needed.

Also, let us not forget the costs to the taxpayer that these illegal immigrants represent. Take the cost annually to the California public school system. It costs taxpayers there about $10.7 billion dollars per year to take care of the education of illegal immigrants, the same children Obama now wants to grant work visas so they can continue their American Dream. What about the unemployed and recently graduated who are struggling to find work; why not work on helping them achieve their dream first?

Another good question is how will this help the illegal immigrants long term? In his own words this is a temporary fix. So after their work visas expire they will head back to their home country. So these young people who I do feel sympathy for have no relief in terms of worry about their long term plans. Does Obama plan on giving them amnesty if re-elected?

The last and most crucial question about this is whether or not it is legal for the President to just unilaterally create new law. From what I understand of the Constitution it is not. This maneuver is troubling as it takes the power of writing and passing the laws from the legislative branch. Our founders did not design this type of government. The president is simply making a political move in an election year.

About the Author

Thomas G. Brown

Publisher and Writer of the TGB Report, Inc. Tom writes about Economic and Political issues as well as other current topics. He is a student of Austrian Economics. Describes his anti-war, free market, attitude towards markets and politics as Classically Liberal in the model of Thomas Jefferson.